The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, announced Thursday a new round of visits to Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia by members of the international organization to confirm their state of health and inform their families about it.
The delegates were able to verify «the conditions in which the detainees are being held and the treatment they are receiving, as well as to convey their long-awaited news to their families,» according to an ICRC statement coinciding with the start of a four-day visit to Ukraine by the ICRC president.
«My expectation is that these visits will allow more regular access to all prisoners of war,» Spoljaric has made known.
«To the relatives: I want you to know that your loved ones are our top priority and that we will not rest until we are able to visit all prisoners of war,» the ICRC president added.
As it has done on other occasions, the ICRC recalls that all prisoners of war are entitled to regular visits by ICRC delegates under the Third Geneva Convention.
«These latest visits represent important advances, but the ICRC must be granted unrestricted access to meet all prisoners of war in private and repeatedly, wherever they are held,» the committee calls.
Spoljaric, he explained on his Twitter account, will spend the first day of his visit meeting with residents of Mikolaiv and Kherson and meeting teams working in the east of the country near the front lines of hostilities.
